Becoming research literate

This chapter introduces the concept of research literacy and makes the case for teaching as a research literate profession. It is argued that all teachers should be supported to engage in professional enquiry as knowledge producers and discerning consumers of pedagogical research. The chapter offers a brief review of the progress and features of the evidence movement(s) in education. We consider the debate around what constitutes good evidence and its application to school settings, and appropriate quality criteria for appraising research. By the end of the chapter, you will be aware of the pluralistic nature of educational research, diverse approaches informing research use in schools and the importance of knowledge translation before adoption in practice. The chapter demonstrates how defensible professional judgement can be supported by systematic collaborative enquiry. We show how your engagement with research as an early career teacher is nested within an evidence eco-system that offers different degrees of involvement and multiple sources of support